Only two people were rumored to be teachers of the right path.
Ibn Halim says that first he went to one of them whose name was Pir-Ardeshir Qazvini.
“Will you instruct me in what should be done and what should not be done?” - he turned to Pir-Ardeshir.
The elder answered like this:
- Yes, of course. However, following my instructions will seem like an unbearable burden to you, because they go against your predisposition - even if it is a predisposition to sometimes place unbearable burdens on yourself.
Ibn Halim stayed with Pir-Ardeshir for several months and felt that, in fact, training was given to him with great difficulty. Those students who were trained before Ibn Halim now themselves deservedly enjoyed the glory of enlightened Teachers, but he could not bear the weight of the changes taking place in him, the uncertainty and the obedience entrusted to him.
In the end, he asked Pir-Ardeshir for permission to leave him and went to the tekkiya of another Teacher, Murshid Amali.
He asked Murshid the following question:
“Will I be able to bear the burden of studying with you?”
Amali replied:
- I won't burden you.
Ibn Halim asked:
- And you will accept me as a student?
Murshid replied:
“Not until you ask me why my training will not be as burdensome as Pir-Ardeshir’s.”
Ibn Halim immediately asked:
- Why is it not so burdensome?
Murshid said:
- Because I will not care about you and your actual well-being as diligently as Ardeshir did. So now you shouldn’t ask to be my student.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru